Hello everyone! :)
It's
been a pretty great week.
Friday
was super fun. We were on exchanges with the Laurier elders; I was with Elder
Yerke, a missionary who came in with Elder Aulner. Super fun exchange. It was
raining ALL day for like the third day in a row, and it was hilarious because
neither of us remembered an umbrella (sorry, Mom... I promise I remembered it
after that) and we had to walk in the rain for a solid 2 hours. It was super
cool though because we went ahead and just had fun with it. I was that dorky
guy wearing a very wet sweater, soaked to the skin, singing a song about how
God is good and life ain't that bad. Elder Yerke looked at me several times and
just laughed. I suppose I was a sight to behold. But it was super cool because
we ended up finding several people in the rain who were interested in hearing
our message.
I
have had a scripture on my mind this week. In the Book of Mormon, there was a
righteous king named Benjamin who was preparing to hand over the kingdom to his
son, Mosiah. Before he did, he wanted to give a last discourse to the people.
In this discourse, he spoke of the importance of helping those less fortunate
than ourselves. He said,
"And
also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye
will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will
not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him
out to perish. Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his
misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food,
nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments
are just— but I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great
cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he
perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God. For behold, are
we not all beggars? ...and now, if God, who has created you, on whom you
are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto
you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive,
O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to
another."
Here
in Montreal, I have met a lot of beggars. I don't always have money to give
them. I rarely do. But I have been thinking about this scripture.
Are
we not all beggars?
How
many times have I come to the Lord, begging again for forgiveness after having
broken my promises to Him?
How
many times have I knelt in prayer, begging Him to watch over my family, my
friends, my companion, myself?
How
many times have I cried out to Him, begging for comfort and healing in my
moments of despair and guilt and pain?
Am I
not, myself, a beggar?
And
yet sometimes I find it so easy to turn away those who are begging for my help,
be it temporal or spiritual.
I
look back on so many moments where I could have given aid and I turned away.
Like the Levite and the priest, I passed by on the other side, leaving the work
of the Savior I profess to follow to be done by another good Samaritan.
We
owe Him everything. He made no excuses in Gethsemane. He made no excuses before
Pilate. He made no excuses on Golgotha.
How
can I then turn and make excuse to not help my brother or sister, for whom He
suffered just as much pain as for myself? We may not always have money to give;
the aid those around us need may not even be financial. But what excuse do I
have to not learn their name? To talk to them for a moment and smile and show
them His love?
Jesus
Christ never refuses us succor. He runs to our aid.
Let
us do the same for every one of His brothers and sisters - which is everyone -
and let us do it without excuse and without complaint.
For,
as Benjamin stated, are we not all beggars?
En
avant!
Elder Bryan McOmber
